The good news, though, is that some of America's leading cities are taking the premise of The Digital Citizen seriously. Take New York City, for example, which unveiled The Road Map for the Digital City last year in a race to become the leading digital city in the nation. Not only is the city increasing the digital connectivity of its citizens through initiatives like free Wi-Fi in city parks, it is engaging its citizens in transforming government into a truly digital platform. And it's not just New York - in a recent Citibank study, more than half of the world's top 20 digital cities were in America.

The possible benefits of extending this vision for digital cities to the rest of the nation are endless. In a talk with the European Commission, Paul-Andre Baran, the "digital champion" of Every Romanian Digital, explained how a fully digital citizenry has the potential to boost economic growth, streamline government and lead to a vast new re-skilling of the population. Every Romanian Digital would also strengthen all the loose ties of society in ways that are more difficult to measure.

Of course, skeptics will point out that it’s a lot easier to transform a relatively compact nation of 20 million people into a digital powerhouse than a sprawling nation of 280 million. But that ignores an important fact – Romania has a dark authoritarian past, while America has one of vibrant democracy. In a recent debate about the future of the country, the Romanian Minister of Communications said that ½ of his country views the Internet as "a sort of UFO" - and yet the goal of The Digital Citizen is so alluring that it has become a national priority.

The important point is that the rest of the world is rapidly catching up with America in terms of digital innovation, especially in parts of the world - like Eastern Europe - that we used to dismiss lightly. Adopting the goal of Every American Digital will not be easy. It will require leadership at the grassroots level and it will require a strong voice at the national level. In today's global economy, there is a direct link between how digital you are and how competitive you are on the world stage. Striving for a goal of Every American Digital will ensure that America remains the leading digital innovator in the world.